Gay 59-year-old Native American actor Jonathan Joss was shot to death by his neighbor in San Antonio, Texas on Sunday, according to Joss’ husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales. Police arrested the neighbor and charged him with murder.

Joss voice-acted Native American character John Redcorn in the Texas-based comedic cartoon series King of the Hill and also portrayed Native American tribe leader Ken Hotate in the comedy TV series Parks and Recreation.

Related

Keep your Thanks: Here’s the justice queer Native Americans really hunger for
To some Indigenous folks, Thanksgiving marks over 400 years of oppression. Here’s what they’re fighting for instead…

In a public Facebook post published on Monday afternoon, de Gonzales wrote that he and Joss recently visited the site of their home (which burned down in February) in order to obtain a victim’s fire fund check from its still-standing mailbox. While visiting, Joss saw the skull and harness of one of their three dogs who perished in the fire, causing both men “severe emotional distress.”

Never Miss a Beat

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

“We began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw,” de Gonzales wrote. “While we were doing this, a man approached us. He started yelling violent homophobic slurs at us. He then raised a gun from his lap and fired.”

“[Joss] was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other…. Jonathan and I had no weapons,” de Gonzales added. “We were not threatening anyone. We were grieving. We were standing side by side. When the man fired, Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life.”

Police arrived on the scene around 7 p.m. local time and found Joss laying near the road side, People magazine reported. Though medics appeared and tried to resuscitate him, Joss died at the scene, and police quickly arrested a suspect, 56-year-old neighbor Sigfredo Alvarez Cejam, who allegedly drove over Joss’ body before fleeing, TMZ reported.

Cejam now faces murder charges for Joss’ slaying. The aforementioned publication said the two men had allegedly engaged in verbal and physical fights in the past.

In his Facebook post, Joss’ husband said that their house burned down “after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire,” adding, “We reported these threats to law enforcement multiple times and nothing was done.”

“Jonathan is my husband,” de Gonzales wrote. “He gave me more love in our time together than most people ever get. We were newlyweds. We picked Valentines Day. We were in the process of looking for a trailer and planning our future…. I was with him when he passed. I told him how much he was loved…. My focus now is on protecting Jonathan’s legacy and honoring the life we built together.”

Joss’ character was set to re-appear in Hulu’s upcoming revival of King of the Hill this August.

A 2024 study revealed that only 51 scripted TV series that aired new episodes between 2020 and 2022 featured Native American characters; only 3% of the characters were LGBTQ+, and all LGBTQ+ characters were women. The study found that viewers of shows with Native American characters were more likely to have have positive and supportive views of real-life Native Americans.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.